Create an SOA scenario, select the relevant evidence and specialist research, review the brief, then check and export the draft document. The newer Overview and Document Upload setup is feature-gated and may not be enabled for your practice. Use the workflow shown in your account, and ask your administrator if the available steps differ. Every generated section needs review against the source evidence before the document is used.
Before you start
Review the client and partner details, objectives and current evidence.
Prepare any ProductRex, insurance or projection scenarios needed for the intended advice.
Use the workflow enabled for your practice. The available setup steps depend on the advice inclusions and interface version.
1. Create or reopen the SOA scenario
From the client record, select Statement of Advice. Click the plus icon, give the scenario a clear name and select Create scenario. To continue existing work, use Open scenario. Confirm the client and scenario before editing.
The Statement of Advice shortcut in Finley Work may show an SOA Placeholder. For the scenario workflow in this guide, open Statement of Advice from the client record.
From the client profile, select ‘Statement of Advice from the left menu.
Click the + button to create a new SOA scenario.
2. Choose evidence and inclusions
Review the client snapshot, select the advice topics and add or select the relevant readable evidence using the setup controls shown in your workspace. Check both document-reading and save status before continuing. Choose any additional shared-library documents explicitly. A visible file or successful text extraction alone is not proof that it has saved. Confirm your evidence selections and review the source passages; do not assume that every part of a long document has been considered.
3. Link the specialist scenarios that apply
ProductRex, Insurance and Projections appear when relevant inclusions and features are enabled. For ProductRex, select the research and confirm account ownership. For Insurance, choose the saved insurance scenario. For Projections, choose the projections workspace and then the modelling scenario. Use the import or continue control shown in your setup and check that the selected material was linked. Resolve any import error before continuing.
4. Prepare and review the brief
Once the evidence and scenario selections have saved, use the brief-preparation or evidence-review step shown in your workspace. Review the summary, objectives, scope, exclusions and proposed advice. Correct the brief through its editing controls or a clear chat instruction, then save the edits. Answer material questions or explicitly defer genuinely unresolved matters. A deferred question remains unresolved; it is not evidence of agreement.
5. Confirm the understanding
Use the workspace’s brief-confirmation control only when the brief reflects the adviser’s intended work. Review objectives, scope, risk profiles, relevant recommendations and fee disclosure. Inspect supporting passages and resolve conflicts in dated sources. Do not resolve a contradiction by choosing a convenient but unsupported value, or treat fallback wording as a confirmed assessment.
6. Review and refine the document
Check each applicable section, including ownership, objectives, scope, recommendations, comparisons, insurance, projections and fees. Use the editing or section controls available in your workspace, save supported edits and then review the updated document. Use a precise chat instruction for a targeted change. Check calculated and structured values in their relevant controls rather than treating them as ordinary prose. Recheck every material statement against the original evidence, especially after a revision.
7. Save and export
Wait for saving to finish and resolve any save error. Use the Word-download or export control available in your document toolbar. Finish and save edits before exporting. Open the downloaded file and review formatting, tables and content. Complete your practice’s advice and approval checks before issuing it to a client.
Check before you finish
The brief reflects supported client objectives and the adviser’s actual recommendation, with unresolved matters clearly identified. Check linked objectives, benefits, consequences, alternatives, disclosures and any service-agreement terms.
ProductRex, insurance and projections are attributed to the right people and scenarios.
The saved draft and exported Word document have both been reviewed.
If something does not work
If brief preparation or the next step is disabled, check inclusions, selected scenarios, saving status and displayed errors.
If a selected insurance or projections step cannot advance, choose the required saved scenario or reconsider whether that advice area belongs in this SOA.
If access is read-only, ask an authorised administrator to check your role and client access. Do not work around the restriction.